Topic: .:4150 [AD][SF]

[The Shrub Dragon]

Pulchra stared at Damien’s strange, papery cylinder for a moment.  He was fumbling around for something, and she supposed he needed it to use the thing.  Even so, it was strange.  Stranger still was when he sauntered up to her, the cylinder still unused.  She stared him over, trying to make a judgement on him.  He was wearing strange clothes, though she supposed they were just modern – he wouldn’t be the only one, after all.  Even so, she had never seen a man in such obvious make-up when he wasn’t exaggerating, or else making his best efforts to be improper.  She restrained herself – just – from wrinkling her nose, though she was sure that her lips had tightened slightly.

“Hey, you see something you like over here?”

He was - she decided - almost as bad as Clemens back in Sicily, though she would allow for the fact that even if he was wearing make-up, he seemed to be far better kept.  She did like that much about him, though given the somewhat goading tone of his voice – and the wink! – She thought that he was very much not looking for that sort of an answer.  She muttered slightly, trying to find something to say to be polite but diversionary at the same time whilst still maintaining a level of English that was at her speaking level.

It was harder than she’d expected it to be, and took a panicked moment to stand and stare up at him without saying anything before finally coming to something that she could say:

“What is a rrrrockstar?” she asked,  drawing out the ‘r’ in the same way that he had.

[Cody999]

"Change what I think? You sound like the diplomats that used to visit." Garath said. The answers that this Villiers man was giving were a bit to Vague for his liking. "Whose mind were you changing with your words. And what about your position as the Duke of Buc ... Buki ... wherever you were Duke of, what did that gain you?" Garath asked the questions, wanting to know if this human was of more use than a diplomat. Garath remembered that Villiers seemed to have been looking for attention before, so to try and make him give an answer quicker Garath looked around pretending not to be interested in whatever Villiers said.

While looking around Garath noticed James, the earth soldier and Lucille were standing together, he decided that he would try and talk to the soldier next, after he had finished getting answers from Villiers.

[Wolstenholme]

"What was your time like, Lucille?" There came a question she had been expecting, she tried to word her answer in a way that was truthful but also slightly dramatised. "Hmmm... well London was, very crowded and there seemed to be people everywhere. The only people who had any sort of power were the rich and educated - not me - and power was mainly kept in family lines. I slept rough every night, on piles of straw or just on the ground. It was very smelly, and very dangerous. You know, you had to keep your wits about you." She noted one of the others eyeing the pair of them up, one of the non-humans as she had gathered. He looked like a good ally, and imagined that getting to know him would be a fresh challenge, possibly one she'd enjoy.

The others suitably bewildered, Villiers tried to 'redeem' himself as they were showing signs that they had no interest in what he had to say, that wouldn't do. Bigging up his position he began loudly "What did being the Duke of Buckingham gain me? Why, that title was the making of me, you see, Dukes are usually related to the King, not I. And being his closest friend, he listened to everything I said, as such, the Kingdom of Great Britain was almost entirely in my hands. I could do with it whatever I pleased." He, obviously, left out the part about all of Parliament hating him and receiving death threats. Then, as none of the others had really made themselves clear to him, he asked:"What sort of power did you have?" And folded his arms, almost triumphantly.

[Cody999]

Villiers looked proud about his little speech so Garath thought it was time to show of a bit "So you could get whatever you wanted from a king?" he began "Well there was someone who tried to manipulate my father into giving him whatever he wanted, his execution was lovely." Garath paused for effect and then went "My father? Oh he is the king where I come from which I guess would make me the prince wouldn't it?" he asked, feeling a little bit smug at that. Of course Garath had left out the detail that he had seven elder brothers and he had no real power in his fathers kingdom, Villiers didn't need to know that.

[Wolstenholme]

Villiers had resolved that the best way to get home would be to make them all hate him. It ought to work, if he didn't get along with the others surely they, the people who had brought him here, would send him home where he could stay in his little lap of luxury and resolve to never bother the world again. At Garath's mention of himself as a Prince, Villiers made a small, arrogant grunt and stalked off. His eyes flitted about the room, resting on all the others, smiling and meeting other people... even Lucille, he wished he could have found some way that this was enjoyable for him. It wasn't.

[Danatales]

Damien grinned again. That didn't really answer the question he'd posed to the young Roman lady, but he was just happy to be talking to someone who had some vague interest in him.
"Oh, yeah, a rockstar." He clicked his tongue, realizing that those didn't really exist in Ancient Roman times. He thought of another wording, "I'm...a musician, basically. Me and some friends back in my own time all played music together. I sang. It was pretty awesome."

Chuckling a little, he also realized he'd left his smoke unlit, just dangling from his mouth. Reaching back in his pocket he withdrew his light, raising it to his lips and igniting the end of the cigarette. He took a deep inhale of the tobacco and almost groaned at finally getting his fix. Plucking the paper stick from his mouth, he turned his head to exhale the stream of smoke, careful not to blow any in Pulchra's face. Even back home he was well aware girls were not a big fan of getting smoke slammed into their faces.

"So. Aahhh...you're from, Rome, right?" He asked, as he put the smoke back in his mouth, "That must've been...really different than here. Hell, it's pretty damn different for me, so with you it's probably, like, a whole other world."

Clipper, meanwhile, found that his perch on Jame's shoulder was quite comfy, and, ruffling his feathers a little, settled down a bit on it.
"Oh, yes, times have certainly changed since your time in the service, but trust me, we still use many tactics perfected back in...mm...the Second World War, yes?" He said to James, turning his small head and making a soft gurgling sound. He then turned his head, finally regarding the lady James was with, "Oh, and hello Miss Lucille!" Being a crow, Clip was very good at remembering names and faces, even after hearing a name only in passing. He blinked his beady black eyes at her, "I hope you aren't too disrupted in being taken so far from your time. I know this whole thing certain ruffled my feathers!" He made a quiet series of caws, an-almost laugh at his own joke.

[The Macintosh Ninja: SOH CAH TOA]

"He wants to know of my power? I'll show him my power!!" Eztli thought. He took a deep breath, but paused. The others spoke softly not in shame of a warrior's spirit, but because shouting wasn't necessary. At any rate, the Jaguar warrior was tall and imposing; he didn't need to speak loudly to show his might. It would reveal itself in battle.

"I am warrior. Slain many. Captured more." Eztli spoke. His volume was lower, but he still spoke with a strong presence. "We Jaguars hunt prey. Capture, not kill. Satisfy need of our Gods. Defend our people. My power is fighting: I protect." He drew attention to the many scars adorning his body. "You use words to sway man. I don't speak well. I use weapons. Tecpatl, a knife. Maquahuitl, sharp club. No life outside of battle. No meaning outside of protect my people."

Eztli thought for a moment. Everyone here was away from their tribes. They were all warriors and fighters taken from homes and told to fight with each other. A band of people formed from other peoples. None of them were enemies: most were completely bizzare to the Aztec. If they were to fight together, then Eztli would protect them as his own. They were his people now, even if they smelled odd or had sickly pale skin and gold hair and wore armor that didn't look like it could stop anything. "If we are allies, I protect all." he concluded, standing up straight with a sense of duty.

[Cody999]

Garath stared at the warrior man Eztil with a new sense of respect, not just of his obvious strength, but for his willingness to protect a group he just met, however Garath didn't want this man to rush in and injure himself protecting some one. "Hey we're all allies here, so don't be afraid to step back and let someone else do the protecting. Ok?" he said in a friendly voice. Then noticing that Villiers had walked away Garath started to walk away, but not before saying "I was a warrior to for a while, I might want to talk to you later."

Garath walked, slowly to avoid any unnecessary clinking from his armor, towards James, Lucille and the talking bird, Garath couldn't remember what the bird had called itself so he hoped the bird wouldn't be offended if Garath asked about it. When he got to the group he nodded politely and said "I hope I won't be interrupting anything by joining you."

[SirBlaziken]

"Smelly, keeping your wits about you and dangerous. Sounds like the war, alright. Only differences there are that it was a jungle I was in, everyone had a gun and bullets were flying in all directions." James thinks of a moment, then adds "Also, there was the fact that you weren't likely to come back from it, either side. Chilling thought, but when you were called to battle, you have to serve the country your hardest. I would've made my parents proud had it not have been for...." James trails off, as if that was a painful subject.

 "Oh, yes, times have certainly changed since your time in the service, but trust me, we still use many tactics perfected back in...mm...the Second World War, yes?" Clipper finally says, obviously talking to James. He was about to answer when the walking suit of armor came over and said, "I hope I won't be interrupting anything by joining you." James nodded then said, "No not really, we're just getting know know each other.". The soldier thinks for a moment on Clipper's remark about the tactics they use, then says, "Well, from the sounds of it, we're going to need every little trick we have. I just have to remember all that I know after about..... I think 2000 years of being frozen in that weird capsule."

[The Shrub Dragon]

It was not until Damien said musician that Pulchra’s mouth morphed into a small ‘o’ in the middle of her face, and she nodded.  Her father had brought in many musicians for many different occasions when she was still in Rome, and each one had been exactly the same, really, as the next.  Damien seemed rather different to them, though she supposed that he was probably at least a little bit similar to all the other musicians of his time.  She wondered what sort of music he played.

She was drawn from the thought as she finally found out – in a particularly unpleasant way – what the roll of paper was for.  And also why the man smelled like burning grounds.

The answer – she supposed – was really quite simple.  He was burning something.  She was grateful for his efforts to not blow smoke in her face, but even so, she bent her head towards the ground and pressed her lips tightly together, determined not to inhale any of the stuff. 

He spoke again, from around the stick.  "So. Aahhh...you're from, Rome, right? That must've been...really different than here. Hell, it's pretty damn different for me, so with you it's probably, like, a whole other world."

Pulchra nodded. “Roman empire.  Not Rome. Tuscany. It is North.” Though her English was broken, Pulchra was pleased with her efforts – she was sure that she had communicated what she thought rather well. As an afterthought, she pointed at the white stick.  “Did not have those.”

The merest bit of contempt for the object worked its way into her voice, and she hoped that it was imperceptible. She chanced a brief look up at him – doing her best to try and make sure that he hadn’t offended him, though she kept her breath firmly held.

[Danatales]

Clipper shifted and made an almost purr-like noise in response to James, "It will very interesting indeed to see all of our varied skilled working together!" he replied, clicking his beak. With so many representatives from varying time periods present, he knew once they learned how to work together for battle things would be a sight to behold.

Suddenly, Clip watched as one of the various extraterrestrials in the room approached. Garath, he recalled. He was already fond of the being as he looked at him. That armor look so shiny and nice; he desperately wanted to peck at it. "You aren't interrupting at all!" he chirped as the alien approached, "It is nice to meet another nonhuman. Where did you ay you were from again?" He tilted his small head, eyeing Garath with as much interest as a crow's face could show.

"Oh, right, right. Tuscany, sorry," Damien nodded as Pulchra corrected him on where she was from, "All in the big 'ol Italy area, gets a little mixed up for me sometimes." He breathed a laugh, before hearing the second part of the girl's statement.

"Did not have those.”

He glanced up. she was pointing at his cigarette, and from the way she'd said it, he could clearly tell she wasn't exactly enamored with the thing. Carefully, he plucked it from his lips and turned his head to exhale another stream of smoke away from her. Looking back at her, he shrugged a little, almost sheepishly.

"Yeeahhh....give it a couple of hundred years, sweetheart. It's probably not a bad thing you don't got these, though," He put the paper tube back in his mouth and smirked a little, "Once you start doing 'em, you can't really stop, you know?"

[Kpyna]

"That's really neat! Yeah, no other especially intelligent beings here. I mean, some animals could be considered pretty smart. But, we kind of took supremacy of the planet before they were properly developed, I suppose," Leon said, honestly not knowing too much about the fauna on Earrth. "You guys ever fight? Throughout our history we have tons of people killing each other just from how they look. I can't imagine having an entire other species. We'd probably just get scared and kill 'em all, to be honest," Leon sighed, not exactly feeling up to par with the foreign alien. Knowing them, they had probably discovered universal peace while humans bombed cities.

"I take it you're from the larger and smarter ones? I'd imagine you'd have an introduction like Blood Coyote, if you were of the other alien race..." he said, making a sly thumb point at the Aztec man.

[Cody999]

"I'm from Sul." Garath said in reply to the crow's question "It's not a very pretty planet and most of the inhabitants are quite violent, and a lot of my own people try war before they try peace." Garath then turned to look at James "I would love to learn about human battle tactics, even old ones." he told him. The reason for Garath's interest in tactics was that although a lone human was normally no match for a lone Sullen, the human race still saw victory after victory during the Earth-Sul war. Garath had decided not to mention the war, trying to seem as friendly as possible. Garath looked at the crow, trying to remember its name without having to ask.

[Wolstenholme]

Lucille listened intently to the conversation, Garath's planet sounded intriguing and even more dangerous than her London. She realised that she seemed to have unintentionally joined a small militia in this conversation but she didn't really mind, if it was all Latin to her, it was certainly pretty decent Latin. Maybe she would even pick up some fighting skills or possibly shoot a gun... no... she thought, women aren't allowed weapons or even to fight wars and yet there were a few women here. Lucille counted them as she looked around the room and recalled the women here, there were at least three of them. As her eyes fell on the other human girl, Pulchra, the man she had been talking to, the one who had called himself a "rrrrrrrrockstar" turned and blew a large amount of smoke in their direction behind his back. It came billowing towards Lucille and made her turn her nose up a little, it definitely wasn't the sort of smell you got in London. It smelt like burning. He must be smoking tobacco. She was revolted and interested in equal amounts, his cigar didn't look the same as the ones others she knew smoked.
Lucille turned her head back to Clipper, the concept of a talking military bird was still intriguing.


Villiers had been in the corner of the room observing the others since the talk with the 'alien' man. He watched Lucille again as she mingled with the others. She was a fool. Then, another of the modern humans took out a small white piece of paper and began to puff smoke, he recognised the scent well. Tobacco. How welcome that was. Trying to look casual he strolled up to the tobacco boy and and regarded him and his cigar. Maybe he would allow himself to befriend one person here. "George Villiers," he addressed him and then looked at the small girl he was talking to, dipping his head slightly and shooting her a small grin. If there was plenty of cigars, maybe he could be persuaded to stay. "You don't happen to have any more of those cigars do you, my friend?" He continued, eyeing the cigar, although it didn't look much like the cigars of his day.

[SirBlaziken]

James listened to Garath "I'm from Sul." the alien said, "It's not a very pretty planet and most of the inhabitants are quite violent, and a lot of my own people try war before they try peace."

"Sorry to cut in, but war before peace? Well, sounds like the Earth from my time. A lot of the world's superpowers like the United States, Russia, France and Germany are involved. It's sheer chaos. The US got bombed by Japan, James cut in to explain, his expression fluttered to grim, then sad, then back to the neutral mask is usually was. "That's how I got into the war, every man from ages 18 to 41 were called to arms." James finished explaining. He purposefully left Britten off his list of countries, because Lucille may be worried for that. James couldn't do that to her right when they met.

"I would love to learn about human battle tactics, even old ones." Garath said. James nodded, then said, "Well, we can do that later. I'm kind of interested of this "Sul" planet you come from."